Fantasy
by Moriyasha Neko-hime
Summary: Filia and Felis, two girls from our world, find themselves somehow drawn into the world of FFVII when they are involved in a freak car accident. One ends up with Avalanche, the other at Shinra HQ. So separated, will they ever be reunited?
1. Goodbye Earth

**Summary:** Filia and Felis, two girls from our world, find themselves somehow drawn into the world of FFVII when they are involved in a freak car accident. One ends up with Avalanche, the other at Shinra HQ. So separated, will they be able to ever reunite with one another?

Okay, Peoples...

I came up with this wonky, extremely stupid and highly unlikely fanfic idea whilst me big sister played Final Fantasy 7. I'm not very good at playing video games, but I do enjoy watching others play.

Anywho, I just started thinking what it would be like if certain things were different and what I would do if I were there and created these two characters in my head to make it all happen. I would talk to my nee-chan about the funny things that would happen, but I always felt it was too stupid to write, since I don't really like Mary Sues. But nee-chan says it sounds good enough to write and post.

So, here go all my weird ideas.

**Warning**: it's an AU and a major Mary Sue. (--;;...That rhymed. Ick.) Oh yeah, there is _no_ romantic interaction between the Original characters—my nee-chan and I—and the video game people. I promise. Well, bye all. Hope you like it.

Oh yeah, FF7 doesn't belong to me. Yeah.

**Fantasy**

**Chapter One: Good-bye, Earth...**

"_Help..."_

_Who's there?_

"_Help...us..."_

_What? What do you mean?_

"_Help us, please..."_

_Help you? Who are you?_

"_HELP!"_

Filia Haww snapped awake with a gasp.

The alarm on the dresser was blaring and was soon killed when the figure on the bunk below hers hit the snooze button. However, the other girl fell back against her pillow, wrapped her blanket tighter around herself and rolled over to fall back asleep.

Knowing her younger sister was supposed to be getting up soon, Filia sat up and looked over the edge of her bed to see the alarm clock. She instantly groaned and leaned her head against the mattress when she read 4:32 AM. How could her sister be insane enough to set an alarm that early in the morning?

Of course, the younger girl usually got up with the alarm the second or third run through, and that was why she set it so early. Even so...

"Oi, Felis..."

The younger sister moaned.

"Aneki, time to get up."

"In a sec..."

Filia sighed, also wanting to continue sleeping, but knew there was no way, since she was already wide awake. Hopping down to the floor, shivering without her blanket and going numb on contact with the tiles, Filia picked up the alarm clock, pushed the current time forward and held it next to her sister's ear. After a minute, the alarm went off and her younger sister, Felis Haww, sat up on her elbows with a start.

Upon realizing what her older sister had done, Felis Haww groaned and fell back down on her pillow. "That's mean, nee-chan...!"

"Then you shouldn't set the alarm to go off so early!"

Both girls looked almost exactly alike; dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and lightly tanned skin. But the two had their differences. Filia preferred her hair short and so it went down to just above her shoulders, she was somewhat thin and exceptionally tall for a girl; she was not as fully-figured as her younger sister, and although most mistook her for a boy, she tried to ignore it. Felis was average height, therefore smaller than most other girls were, and she had long hair usually kept back in a ponytail; although she was a very femininely built young woman, she did her best to hide that, preferring actually to be thought of as a boy or, better yet, ignored.

"It's not like you ever wake up with it..." Felis stretched and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm cold..." She grumbled.

"It's winter, hun," the older girl replied as she set the clock back on the dresser and headed for the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower."

"How can you take showers in the morning?" Filia asked as she started to pull of her night clothes and replace them with the outfit she had set out the previous night. "It's nuts, you hear me? _NUTS_."

Filia shrugged as she closed the bathroom door. "I can't understand how you can take a shower at night," she said, removing her own nightshirt. "It's creepy and dark."

"Not if you remember to keep the lights on!" Felis said through the door and then left to make herself breakfast.

Filia sighed and wrapped a towel about herself and turned on the water, waiting until it was warm enough and then hopping into the shower. The older sister shivered slightly in the hot water, but adjusted and sighed as she washed her hair. As she rinsed the shampoo out, Filia's hand passed over the scar leading up her back to just below her shoulder; stopping, the young woman touched the scar gently. Felis had a mirror-image of this mark on her own back, but she was proud to bear such a 'battle scar.'

Filia was different. Like some rare things, she felt differently about their partner scars. Neither of them could remember how they had been hurt to receive such wounds, but their mother never talked about it other than a slight mention to an accident. Filia tried not to dwell on it very much, but sometimes she couldn't help it and was very sad about it.

Felis and their younger brother, Van, had made an obviously fake tale of how they got their scars in a heroic battle against a dark emperor wanting to eat them all up when they were younger; this cheered Filia up, letting them go on with their ordinary little lives.

_Why am I so worried about it now?_ She wondered as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. What brought up the blank memory after so long? Filia didn't know, but decided to ignore it and got dressed.

Her outfit of choice consisted of a pair of dark blue jeans and a white button-up blouse. Looking herself over in the mirror, Filia found this outfit made her looked more like a boy than usual, but settled with it with a sigh.

By the time she got out of the shower, Felis and Van had already left for school. It wasn't a problem—Filia was used to eating breakfast alone. After an hour or so, her mother woke up and rushed Filia to work before heading out to her own job.

--------------------

Should I ever leave thy side...

Then take my beating heart away.

Should I ever forget thy face...

Then damn me to a torture unspeakable.

Mother...

--------------------

Felis snapped awake as the release bell rang and sat up feeling very heavy and tired. She had fallen asleep while reading a word packet for her Vietnam history class again, but as usual, her teacher hadn't noticed, despite his desk being right behind her.

Yawning, she stretched and put her stuff away before heading out to meet her brother so they could walk home.

Van came out of his computer class and waved as they met at the end of the sidewalk. "Hey, Felis! Guess what happened in fourth hour?"

"What?" The older girl smiled softly up at her taller, younger brother.

"Some idiot switched the **J** and **K** keys on most of the keyboards and so the class spent half the time trying to fix it!" Van grumbled. "I bet it was Al and those other punks! They're always messing stuff up!"

Just then, their mother pulled up and they hopped inside the car.

"How was school?"

"It was okay," Felis replied. "Nothin' special."

"Same here," Van said. "Hey, Mom? Don't forget that you said I could go to Chris' house after school today."

Mrs. Haww hit the steering wheel. "Dagnabit! That's right!" She said running her fingers through her dark brown hair. "I'm going to drop you off at Wal-Mart, can you make it to your friend's house from there?"

"Sure!"

Felis, not wanting to be left alone at home, decided to pipe up. "Could I go to Wal-Mart, too?" She asked. "I can meet up with Filia and walk home when she gets off at three."

"It's alright with me," Mrs. Haww smiled and took a right turn.

Making it to the new Wal-Mart Super Center, the two siblings hopped out of the car, waving to their mother as she headed back to work.

"Well, later!" Van grinned as he headed off to his friend's house.

Felis sighed and walked towards the main entrance, stopping and looking up at the cloudy sky when she heard the rumble of thunder. She loved rain and hoped that it would come down hard with a smile.

The reply to her wish was a loud clap of thunder and rain pouring down in a light sprinkle before it started down harder.

Filia smiled to the woman as she took her bags and left her cashier stand. She then sighed and rubbed her sore neck; she had been working for hours and was more than ready to check out.

"Nee-chan!"

She looked up to see Felis coming down the aisle with two boxes of Star Crunch and Oatmeal Cream Pies with a bright smile.

"Yo, Aneki," Filia smiled. "What're you doing here?"

"I don't have any homework today, and Van went to a friend's place," the younger girl replied. "So I decided to go shopping and catch up with you."

"Well, you're just in the nick of time, I was about to check out."

After buying her junk food and after checking out, the two girls went to the McDonalds at the corner of the store and got lunch.

"How's school?"

Felis shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. Oh, yeah!" She started rummaging through her backpack. "I printed off the most recent chapters of **_BOUND_** and **_WHY ME_** today. I also found some new FF7 doujinshi, but I was only able to print off a few pages before the lunch bell rang."

"Cool!" Filia stuffed a frenchfry into her mouth to take the papers her younger sister held out. "Any good Zack pictures?"

"No, but there were some cool Rufus shots!"

The two paged through the pictures, but both suddenly stopped when they heard a voice screaming. _"HELP US!"_

A second voice quickly followed the first. One that sent waves of pain and fear to the marrow of their bones.

"_DIE!"_

Filia held her head while Felis leaned over on the table holding her stomach. There was a bright flash of blue lightning, but no thunder followed. The two girls looked up in time to see a huge something—a car? It all happened so fast they weren't sure _what_ it was—break through the wall, bricks crumbling and plaster shaking free from the ceiling like chalky snow, and shatter the massive window in a spectacular array of dancing shards and light. They realized, too, late, that it was headed straight for them.

They both instinctively tensed for the impact, both knowing with those same instincts that they would never survive a collision at such close range. Felis clenched her eyes tightly shut, uttering silent prayer that it would be quick, that it wouldn't hurt too much, that her mother wouldn't cry... Her entreaty trailed off, however, when she realized that she hadn't been hit. Opening her dark eyes, she watched in awe as everything around them faded away and they found themselves drifting in darkness. Filia, in the last instant before their world faded, launched herself at her younger sister and wrapped both arms around her shoulders. Felis did the same, burying her face in her sister's chest and digging her fingers into the taller girl's back.

They clutched each other for dear life, but something painfully hot—like a sheet of molten metal, slammed first into the taller girl's back, then her sister's. Filia threw back her head and screamed, tears forming the corners of her tightly-shut eyes, and her grip on Felis slackened as she, too, shrieked in pain. The two found themselves pulled apart and they could do nothing but watch in heartbroken horror as the other faded away.

Filia hit something hard and fell to the ground in a daze of pain. She struggled to reorient herself and was vaguely able to take note of more heat—though this was nowhere near the level of whatever had struck her—and roar of an intense fire burning all around her. The ground suddenly creaked and snapped, leaning downward; Filia found herself staring down into a thick cloud of smog miles below. Fear gripped her and she grabbed hold of the railing attached to the platform she sat on, but the rusted metal crumbled in her grasp and she was sent falling.

She couldn't understand what was happening. Was she having a nightmare? It had to be a nightmare. But...

Filia began to black out, but an unfamiliar voice shouted something very near her ears. What was it? She couldn't even tell if it was a male voice or not, and was barely able to register someone's arms wrap around her and hold her in a warm, secure embrace as they fell. Clinging to consciousness a little longer, Filia opened her eyes and caught the sight of blonde hair before everything faded away.

--------------------

Not very long, not much happening in this chapter, but I promise, it will speed up and get a little more involved. This is my first FF7 fanfic, and my third involvement in a Mary Sue, so try and bear with me.

Please?


	2. Hello Gaea

Again, FF7 doesn't belong to me.

I thank any of you who have returned to read on. Very much thank you. Expect much runnings and some fun in this new chapter.

- - -

**Fantasy**

**Chapter Two:…Hello, Gaea!**

A cool, refreshing smell filled Filia's nostrils and called her back up from the depths of her dreamless sleep. She opened her eyes and met a beautiful white flower, several white flowers actually, and sighed in relief that she was still alive.

It must have been a dream. A really hot, very realistic, terrifying dream. Filia's relief seized up in her chest as she considered something: What the heck were flowers doing in her bed? Looking up, she saw light leaking through a large hole in the ceiling high above her, raising question number two: _What the heck happened to my ceiling?_

The sound of soft breathing beside her caught her attention; she turned her head to see where that sound was originating from, to find her eyes meeting the sleeping face of a man. A remarkably attractive young man that struck a familiar chord in her mind.

Giving a high squeak, Filia sat up and scooted away from the stranger, scattering flower petals with every movement—movement that continued until she hit the tattered end of a rotten wooden plank. Sitting as far from her strange companion as possible, the dark-haired girl froze when her heartbeat slowed to the point that she could take in his appearance.

He wore a dark purple outfit with black boots, his left shoulder was covered by a metal shoulder guard, and he wore black glove; Filia could see bandages running up his wrist. However, what made the breath in her throat catch was the young man's face; his smooth, perfect skin and sunshine-blond hair that stood in spikes.

The young man was Cloud Strife, hero of Final Fantasy 7.

As Filia sat in complete shock, trying to figure out why he of all people would be there, someone stepped into the room; the footstep issued a loud creak from the rotting wooden planks serving as the floor, and the girl's head snapped back to see the intruder.

"Ah, you're awake!" A voice like roses and soft wind chimes said as Filia turned, her brown eyes widening and her mouth falling open with a high-pitched strangled noise.

The woman she saw was a couple years older than herself, with long, chestnut-brown hair up in a ponytail that progressed down into a braid. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green, a shade that made Filia's chest seize with the certainty that it couldn't possibly exist. She wore a pink dress with a scarlet overshirt and gloves and boots made of the same brown leather.

Aerith Gainsborough, the flower girl from the slums, stood before her.

"I'm glad you're okay," she smiled. "I was really surprised when you and your friend fell through the ceiling! You were lucky, though, that the ceiling and flowers broke your fall."

Filia sat there, trying to talk, trying to respond in some way, but she found herself merely opening and closing her mouth without emitting any sound at all. Was she dreaming?

Her thoughts were cut off when a soft groan sounded from the partially forgotten Cloud and he sat up, holding a gloved hand to his spikey blond head. "Ow…"

"Well, you both look okay," Aerith smiled, making Cloud look at her. "Hello, there!" she beamed at the slightly younger man.

"Uh, hi…" Cloud's eyes drifted from Aerith to his surroundings and then finally to Filia, who had not moved an inch since the pink-clad flower girl had stepped in. "You!" he called in surprise. Filia yelped and pulled both of her hands up to her shoulder in a universal—or perhaps just anime-induced—gesture of surprise. "I saw you before, when we fell."

The young woman thought back and did recall someone holding her as she fell; someone with blond hair. "Uh…yeah, that was me," she replied. "Thanks…for…saving me."

Cloud sighed and fell back to the ground, scattering multiple flower petals. "Well, at least I'm alive," he said, more to himself than either of the girls. "I suppose I should be grateful."

"Um, excuse me…?" Cloud sat bolt upright as he and Filia both looked to Aerith. The flower girl stood smiling good-naturedly. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but could you two step out of there and up on the wood floor?"

Both Cloud and Filia started, eyes growing wide as they realized just what kind of damage they had inflicted on these poor little flowers, and apologized as they climbed out of the hole and set foot on the wood floorboards.

"The flowers broke your fall," Aerith said, smile still firmly in place, "but I think they're going to suffer for it later." She sighed as she knelt down near the edge of the flowerbed and looked her plants over.

"I'm kinda surprised," Cloud said. Aerith raised her eyebrows and gave a monosyllabic sound of inquiry, but did not turn from her flowers. "To see flowers growing here in Midgar is surprising, I mean."

The flower girl looked up at the blond Ex-SOLDIER and smiled. "It's not easy, but the rewards are worth the hard work." Aerith stood up and brushed the dust, dirt and rotten splinters off the front of her rosy dress. "By the way, what are your names?"

"Oh, right! I'm Cloud," he replied. "Cloud Strife."

"Cloud Strife…" Aerith tasted his name with a smile and looked at Filia. "And you? What is your name?"

"Ah…I, uh…" She struggled, wondering what she should do, but in the end decided to give in. "I'm Filia Haww, but a lot of people call me Fil."

Cloud folded his arms in front of his chest and regarded her with arched eyebrows and slightly narrowed sapphire eyes. "Okay then, Fil, mind telling me what you were doing up there?"

Filia stopped. "Uh…" The truth was she wasn't sure herself. What _had_ happened? She could remember up to where she and Felis had been eating lunch, but then…there was nothing. Complete blackness until Cloud saved her during the fall.

"Excuse me," Aerith said softly and they turned to her. "I think I remember you," she pointed to Cloud. "In Sector 5? I'm pretty sure that you bought a flower from me."

The blond seemed to think about it a while before his glowing blue eyes lit up in realization. "Oh, yeah! You were that flower girl!"

"Right!" Aerith nodded, happy to be recognized for reasons only she—and a certain girl that had played the game through thrice so far—knew. A silence settled over the three of them for a long second; Cloud and Aerith continued staring at each other, the flower girl obviously bringing up flickers of memory on the young man's part, and Filia lost in thought. Aerith broke the moment by looking between the ex-SOLDIER and the girl. "Are you two friends?"

The two turned to each other with the same disbelief evident in their eyes, eyes that couldn't be more different in color and shape, but now held the same confused emotions. Filia shook her head. "Ah…no, not really."

"We don't even know each other," Cloud replied, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Although, I would like to ask you why you were up in the…" He trailed off as he looked over at Aerith.

The flower girl blinked. "What?"

Filia recalled suddenly all the times she had played Final Fantasy 7 and Cloud did his best to avoid talking about Avalanche business around Aerith. She sighed with relief at the chance to avoid the subject. Whatever was happening, it had to all be a dream. After all, stuff like this never happened while she was awake. Besides, she had had some pretty strange dreams before, hadn't she? And this wasn't the first time they involved characters from her favorite game—she once dreamed she was stuck in Bone Village for a week and Sephiroth had given her some nifty body armor.

This, however, was much weirder.

"I'm really sorry, Cloud, Aerith, but I have to get going."

The Ex-SOLDIER's azure eyes narrowed slightly at the younger girl's words, then turned to look back over his shoulder at the flower girl. "Your name is Aerith?"

The woman nodded slowly, her own emerald eyes drifting from Filia to Cloud, then back to the girl. "Aerith Gainsborough. But…how did _you_ know?" She asked. Filia stiffened involuntarily.

"D-Didn't you mention it earlier?" She asked with a weak smile.

"No, I'm pretty sure I didn't," Aerith said, shaking her head.

_Crud!_ Filia struggled to come up with something—anything—to explain this, but came up with a big fat zero. "Listen, I'm really sorry, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I really have to be leaving now," she chuckled. "I don't even know what I'm doing here, really. This is all really confusing to me, so if you'll excuse me, I'll leave now."

Filia made her way around the flowerbed, careful not to step on the flowers; she had done enough damage to them already, in her humble opinion. What the heck was all this about? What was going on? She had to have eaten something that didn't agree with her to have such a crazy dream; and she _had_ to be dreaming. If not, then what else could be happening? Was it possible that she was actually in a video game? She had no idea how to solve any of these questions when she didn't even know how this had happened.

The only conclusion she had was that she was dreaming.

Filia's thoughts were abruptly cut off, however, when she ran into something firm and very warm. She pulled back and to see that the thing she had run into was, in fact, somebody's torso. The figure was clad in a white, button-up shirt—the first few buttons undone—and a black coat. The young woman's eyes slowly moved up to the person's face, her heart rate increasing steadily when she met a pair of soft, faintly-glowing blue eyes. On his brow sat a pair of black ray-bans, framed by scarlet red hair.

It was Reno. As in, the _Turk_, Reno. The cute one.

Filia quickly jumped back with a start, scrambling backward until she was closer to Cloud, who was stepping in front of Aerith. Waking up next to Cloud was enough of to cause a heart attack, but to walk into the red-haired Turk almost caused a repeat of near-heart failure. Even though he _had_ smelled really nice.

"Well, this is certainly an…interesting party," Reno said, straightening his sunglasses when they threatened to fall over his eyes. "Sorry to burst your balloon, but the party's over." The other three men with him aimed their guns at Filia, Cloud and the quivering Aerith.

_Aerith…_ Filia's brown eyes shot to the older woman in shock, then back at Reno and his men. _Okay!_ She thought, clenching her fists tightly. _If this _is_ a dream, I can do what I want. Right?_

She dashed over to Aerith, grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the back of the church. "Come on, Cloud! Hoof it!"

Cloud jerked as he watched after them. "Whu-What?"

"Hurry up!"

The ex-SOLDIER looked back over at Reno for a split second, obviously debating whether to choose fight or flight, before running after the two girls.

Reno sighed heavily and scratched his scarlet head with intense aggravation. "Fine," he muttered crankily. "If that's how you want it, _fine_." The Turk stepped down into the flowerbed and his men gasped in horror.

"You know you're gonna get forsaken for that!" Filia called back at him, realizing a moment too late that she had stolen a line from one of the soldiers accompanying the redheaded Turk.

Reno raised an eyebrow. _Whoever the hell that dark-haired guy is,_ he thought, _he's weird. _The Turk continued walking across the patch of flowers, words of surprise and protest bursting from the other men until he made it to the other side. He started to walk into the back room, but stopped and looked back. "Don't step on the flowers."

Filia couldn't help but smile at her remark back at the Turk. She had always loved that group of weirdos, almost more than Cloud and his gang, but she also felt incredibly delighted to be able to go up against one, even if it was just a dream. Whenever she woke up, she had to remember all of this so she could tell Felis about it; she would love it.

"Hey, Fil!" Cloud called. "What are we running for?"

"Those guys are after Aerith!" She replied. "We gotta get her outta here before they catch her!" They came to where the fallen beams of the church formed a way up to the roof and Felis stopped to catch her breath as she looked it all over. "Looks sturdy enough…"

Cloud caught up to them. "Why do they want Aerith?"

The flower girl hesitated in answering. "I…well, I'm…"

"Run now, talk later!" Filia called, dashing for the beams. "Come on! D'you wanna end cut up into wafer-thin sections?"

Aerith and Cloud exchanged a quick glance, both equally confused, then dashed after her as she gained some distance ahead of them. The ex-SOLDIER helped the flower girl to climb the beams, steadily losing distance behind the dark-haired Filia.

Filia had climbed up to the point that she didn't dare keep going without the others, and thus stopped her frantic ascent. When she stopped, something dark caught her eye, and she turned to find that she had stopped beside a familiar black bag. "My purse!" She exclaimed, taking the bag and pulling it onto her shoulder before checking back on Cloud and Aerith. Deciding they were close enough, she continued climbing.

Just as she took a step out to reach another beam, a shot cut through the air directly in front of her, making a sharp sound as the bullet rushed past. Filia froze, looking back down to see Reno's men take aim—one gun on each of them.

"Frell!" she mock-swore. Turning to look down at the spiky-haired amnesiac and the emerald-eyed flower girl, she hollered as loud as she could, "Cloud, hurry up!"

The ex-SOLDIER hurried his continued assistance of Aerith, but the slight burst of speed wasn't enough to keep the two soldiers aiming at him and the woman from taking careful aim and firing expertly—several times. Aerith started at the sound of bullets slicing past, twisting her ankle on a rickety beam, and fell to the beam below. She bit back a cry of pain as she bent over the rotting wood and the men dashed up to take her.

"Aerith!" Both Cloud and Filia looked around frantically; both came up with the same plan of action. The ex-SOLDIER and Gamer-girl quickly began shoving barrels and smaller chunks of wood over the edge at the Shinra flunkies, both hoping they would hit their marks. Somehow.

Two of the men made it to Aerith, but she had caught her breath by then, biting back the pain in her back, and drew her pike. She began to fight them off to the best of her ability, but it was their own clumsy dodging that caused them both to trip over each other and fall over the side.

"You go, girl!" Filia cheered; Aerith smiled back, giving her the peace sign as Cloud leapt down to join her.

"Are you alright?"

The girl beamed. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said easily, turning her pike around her wrist before catching it again and leaning it against her shoulder. "I can take care of myself."

Cloud smirked. "I can see that," he chuckled.

"Guys! Look out!" Filia exclaimed. The two looked up at her just in time for a bullet to graze Cloud's arm. The ex-SOLDIER pushed Aerith behind him as he glared at the third Shinra gunman.

"Surrender at once!" the man commanded.

Filia looked around and her face lit up when she found Cloud's Buster Sword stabbed into the beam. Dashing over to it, she grabbed the hilt and struggled to pry it out; she finally felt it jerk partially out of the wood and she kicked it hard, sending it falling down to land right between Cloud and the gunman.

The two men looked from the sword to each other and Cloud grinned darkly as he dashed up, easily pulled his weapon out of the wood and stood ready to face his opponent. The Shinra gunman's confidence seemed to falter slightly, but he charged forward nonetheless. Cloud stepped out of the way and kicked the man over the edge, never having to use the weapon so recently returned to him.

"All right!" Filia hopped up and down gleefully. "You rock, Cloud!"

The ex-SOLDIER grinned up at her and he and Aerith continued the trek up the fallen beams.

_This is so awesome!_ Filia thought. She started when she saw the three fallen gunmen clambering back up to catch up with Cloud and Aerith, and started to dash over to another barrel to her left. The beam suddenly gave out and she started to fall, fear instantly flooding her when the ground vanished beneath her feet. Filia fell past Cloud and Aerith who instantly halted in their escape as they reached out to grab her; missing her by a few mere inches.

Filia considered herself lucky—she fell onto the two gunmen, breaking her fall. Upon ricocheting off of them, she hit the beam and felt her knee scrape open. She had experienced pain in dreams before, so it came as no huge surprise, but as she sat up, she found blood staining her jeans and her insides went numb as all sound around her faded away. This couldn't be happening—it just couldn't. She reached out and gingerly touched the scrape in her pants, wincing as the contact sent a flash of pain through her knee. Drawing back the two outstretched fingers, she found them crimson with blood.

Filia was in pain. And bleeding. Blood never appeared in her dreams, though, not even in her nightmares. Something was wrong… This wasn't a dream. This was **_real_**.

She was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts when slender fingers dug into the collar of her white shirt, Reno's strong hand yanking her up to her feet. "You lousy punk!" The Turk raised his fist to punch who he thought to be a boy, but he stopped suddenly when he saw Filia shut her eyes tightly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she breathed in and out heavily. Reno also noticed the slight softness of his prisoner's chest and instantly froze. "A girl…?!"

Filia, eyes snapping open as she recognized the opportunity just given to her, leaned forward slightly and bit down hard on the hand holding her shirt. Reno instantly released her with an outcry of pain and she hurried back up the beams, limping slightly. She did her best to ignore the intense pain in her leg until she caught up with Cloud and Aerith; the ex-SOLDIER strapped Buster onto his back and slung Filia's arm over his shoulder, helping her make it up to the massive hole in the ceiling.

The three clambered out onto the roof and made their way across the line of houses and buildings—a road Filia had traveled before, when all this had been nothing more than pixels and light—until they came to a place where they could slide down to the ground.

Cloud carefully sat Filia on the ground and she leaned back against the wall of a building, holding her injured leg as she hissed with pain.

"Are you alright?" Cloud asked, flexing his shoulder experimentally, making sure he was not badly wounded himself. The girl didn't answer for a long moment. "Filia?"

Filia looked down as she shook her head. She was confused; nothing could explain why she was in Midgar now, or how she came to be there. This place didn't even exist past the world of fantasy! There was no way this was possible…

Aerith saw the bloodstain on Filia's jeans and took on a look of worry as she knelt down beside the younger girl. She leaned forward, gently brushing the tears from her cheeks. "Does it hurt?"

"Huh?" The young woman met her senior's green gaze, confused for a moment, and then looked at her injury. "Oh, that," she murmured. "Yeah, it does."

"Let me see." Filia slowly pulled up her pant leg to reveal the large scrape on her knee, from which blood had trailed down her leg and stained her sock. Aerith put her hands over the wound and a faint white glow emanated from her hands, flowing onto the scrape. Filia and Cloud watched in astonishment as the injury faded away. "There," the flower girl said cheerfully. "You should be alright now."

"Wow…that's amazing!" Filia gaped. She had forgotten that Aerith was such a good healer—that was why she had kept the young woman in her party to begin with, wasn't it? Because she could heal the others when their attacks didn't work and they got themselves almost killed. How could she have forgotten such a basic element of her character?

_Well,_ she told herself, _I never thought I'd see those powers firsthand._

"Is this why those guys are after you?" Cloud inquired.

Aerith started. "W-Well, sort of," the flower girl replied. "They come by my house a lot and I see them following me sometimes." She blinked, eyes widening slightly. "Oh, right!" Aerith looked between Cloud and Filia and bowed her head. "Thank you both for saving me."

The ex-SOLDIER smiled. "I didn't do much—it was mostly Fil—but you're welcome anyway."

"Yeah…" Filia nodded, forcing a smile as she pulled her pant leg back down. "Thank you, too."

Cloud mused quietly, "By the way, Fil…" The dark-haired girl looked back up at Cloud as he spoke. "How'd you know those guys were after Aerith?"

"Ah! That's…well…" Filia froze and struggled to come up with an excuse of some kind. "It's because I, uh…I've actually been here a little while and I passed by Aerith a while ago and I…saw those guys stalking her the other day. I decided to keep an eye on her until they left and…"

"Is that also how you knew my name?" The flower girl asked.

"Uh, yeah!" She nodded. "I asked some kids about you and they told me your name." Cloud and Aerith seemed to buy into Filia's tale, neither of them showing even a hint of disbelief, and she sighed in relief. She really didn't like lying, and lying to two of the people she had always wanted to meet in person—in spite of the fact that she had always known it was impossible—was even worse.

"Speaking of stalkers, we should probably get going," the ex-SOLDIER said as Filia stood up and dusted her jeans off. "Those guys might catch up to us if we don't get going soon."

Aerith turned to look over her shoulder toward the church. "I still don't quite understand who those guys are," she said quietly. "The ones who keep coming after me."

"From the uniform," Cloud said, "I'd say the redhead was a Turk."

The Ancient blinked. "Turk?" Filia bit her bottom lip to keep herself from cutting off Cloud's explanation with her own, knowing that if she spoke any more they would get suspicious of her all over again. The last thing she needed was to lose the trust of two people that might very well be her only hope to understand what was going on here.

"The Turks are an organization that's sort of like an offshoot from Shinra; they scout for candidates for SOLDIER," he explained.

Aerith nodded thoughtfully, giving a quiet, "Hmm."

Cloud leaned in slightly. "They also do some pretty nasty stuff on the side—murder, kidnapping, you know."

The flower girl nodded. "Yeah, I though he looked like the type."

Filia stifled a scoff, her worry abating slightly at the matter-of-fact tone in the Ancient's voice. The way she talked, like she understood everything, was probably a bit unnerving to some people, but Filia absolutely loved it.

Cloud cocked his head to one side, glowing sapphire eyes narrowing. "So, why are they after you?"

Aerith grinned wickedly. "Maybe they think I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER!" Filia smiled sympathetically as Cloud shot her a glance past the brunette and shook her head.

_No,_ she said silently, _this woman isn't meant for war. _Her eyes went dark and she cast them down, brow furrowing. _But this war, the one we're just touching the beginnings of, was meant specifically for her._ She looked back up at Cloud. _And you, too, though you don't know it yet…_

Cloud narrowed his glowing eyes in confusion at the dark-haired girl's sad look, but wasn't able to muse on his befuddlement for long before the flower girl interjected.

"Hey, why don't you both come to my house?" Aerith suggested with a bright smile. "There's not a lot of room, but I'm sure my mother won't mind if it's only for a little while."

Cloud seemed to contemplate on the matter a little while before shrugging. "Sounds like a plan to me," he said and looked at Filia. "You coming, Fil?"

The young woman hesitated. She was incredibly tired and desperately wanted to sleep, but if she followed Cloud to Aerith's house, things might take another turn for the worst. Filia thought about what might happen if she stayed with Cloud, going on his quest for Sephiroth and 'winning the game' like she had done many times before. What would change if one more person—who happened to know exactly how thing were supposed to go—were added to the party?

Everything seemed to be going according to what she could remember about the game thus far, she just seemed to have missed most of the opening to the game. If she kept things on track, kept her mouth shut, and stuck with Cloud, maybe she might be able to find a way home.

If there was such a thing.

"Alright, I'm game," she replied, mentally smacking herself for unintentionally making such a ridiculous pun.

"Great!" Aerith smiled. "Follow me."

The three walked through the slums, Filia in awe at how different everything looked from ground-level. She had always seen this place from above, where it was easy enough to tell where they were going, but now she had to mentally rearrange the map in her head to accommodate for the change in perspective. Was it a left here, or a right? Which sector was this, anyway? Why was everything so much _bigger_—the walkways more spacious, the lights brighter, the air heavier—than it had been in the game?

Well, she had always thought the world of Final Fantasy 7 was bigger than Squaresoft let on, but they couldn't very well fit an entire planet into a one-hundred-plus hour game, so that was a given. It made sense that the real thing was more…detailed.

The problem was, there wasn't supposed to a 'real thing' in the first place—Final Fantasy 7, like all its predecessors and all its successors, was a _game_. A wonderful earth-shattering, life-changing game, but a game nonetheless.

_Not anymore,_ she murmured silently.

"So, Cloud," Aerith said amiably, "what did you do before you came here?" She turned her emerald eyes on the young man, who flushed slightly and thought for a long moment. "It's pretty obvious you haven't been here for very long, judging by the way you keep looking around at everything like it's all going to be gone tomorrow," she explained with a grin. "So what did you do before you came here?"

Filia listened intently—this wasn't right, they weren't supposed to have this conversation until later, in the park. On top of that stupid penguin slide that nobody ever played on anymore.

"Were you, by any chance, in SOLDIER?"

Cloud started and gaped, dumbfounded, at the slightly older woman. "H-How did you know?" he stammered. Filia felt like hitting him and telling him the truth, but kept carefully true to her word that she would keep her mouth shut. _No more plot points revealed out of order,_ she swore.

"Your eyes," Aerith replied. "They're just the same as…" she trailed off, averting her eyes with a sigh, "…as _his_ eyes were."

"Who?" Cloud inquired callously, not realizing what thin ice he tread on. One word out of place, a monosyllabic term uttered at the wrong time, and the numberless Clone could have a mental breakdown. Then what would happen? Filia didn't even want to think about how things would turn out if Cloud went insane before his proper time.

She chuckled ruefully. _Proper time…like they have such a thing for insanity._

Aerith's lips curved in a melancholy smile. "My first boyfriend," she replied, never lifting her eyes. _Zack,_ Filia thought, letting out a mental sigh of relief that the flower girl hadn't said it aloud. If she had… The dark-haired girl shuddered.

Cloud went quiet, uncertain of how to reply, and both girls noticed a slight blush surface on his cheeks. Aerith stifled a giggle and Filia scoffed quietly. If only Cloud knew what he was getting himself into with that little reaction. If only anyone knew what was going to happen here.

That was the problem, though; one person _did_ know what was going to happen, and she wasn't supposed to be here in the first place. There wasn't even supposed to be a _here_ at all. The reminder of that made her narrow her brown eyes and feel a knot in her throat.

They soon arrived at the lovely little house—though it, too, was bigger in person—that was Aerith's home and Filia couldn't help but gape alongside Cloud at the beautiful flowers growing around the house.

"Incredible!" The ex-SOLDIER exclaimed, sapphire eyes wide. "And I thought the flowers at the church were amazing!"

Aerith smiled sheepishly at the indirect praise. "The flowers only grow in places with good soil and sunlight, so I can only grow them in a few places."

"It's not real sunlight though…" Filia whispered, making Cloud and Aerith look at her. "The sun doesn't shine on Midgar. It can't."

Cloud and Aerith looked at each other and then back at Filia, but before either of them could ask what brought on the girl's melancholy mood, the front door of the house opened. A middle-aged woman with light brown hair stepped out, casting her confused hazel eyes hurriedly on Filia, brushing her gaze past Cloud, but heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Aerith.

"Oh, thank goodness!" The woman dashed out and took the flower girl into a warm embrace. "I was so worried! Those Shinra fiends came by again and I was so worried that they'd caught you."

"They almost did," Aerith replied, pulling away slightly to smile up at her mother. "But I was lucky to have these two with me." She looked back at Cloud and Filia, who nodded. Mrs. Gainsborough looked at the two strangers and Filia saw a look of shock cross her face when her gaze fell upon Cloud.

"Mother, I would like you to meet Mister Cloud Strife, and ex-SOLDIER, and Miss Filia Haww," Aerith smiled, never noticing the slightly scared look on her mother's face. "I offered to let them stay the night in return for their help."

Mrs. Gainsborough shook out of her thoughts and smiled. "Welcome to our home," she bowed and Cloud and Filia did also. "Please, come inside."

Filia followed after Cloud and stepped into the cozy little kitchen of the house and inhaled the smell of baking bread. The smell suddenly made her stomach growl and she chuckled sheepishly at the looks of the other three people in the room.

"Sorry…" she said. "I'm just really tired and hungry. Can I just go to bed, if that's okay?"

Mrs. Gainsborough insisted that Filia eat something and handed her a dinner roll with some butter on it before having Aerith lead the young girl and Cloud upstairs.

"This is the guest room…" the flower girl smiled as she opened the door and turned on the light. "It's not very big, but it does have a bed. Cloud, you can stay there." Cloud nodded his thanks and Aerith led Filia to the room directly beside the guest room. It was filled with little stuffed animals and pink curtains.

"This is my room," Aerith announced proudly, plopping herself down on the bed. "You can sleep in here. If you want, you can have my bed—"

"That's okay," Filia shook her head. "I'll take the floor."

Aerith nodded slowly, then stood up and looked Filia in the eyes. "Is everything alright, Filia?" She asked. "You don't look so good."

"I'm…just really worn out," she replied quietly. "I really miss my mom, and my little sister and brother, I guess. I haven't been here very long, but…" Filia trailed off as she started crying. _I'm worried that I may never see them again._

Without warning, Aerith wrapped both arms around the crying girl and held her gently. "It's all right," she whispered. "Everything's going to be okay, Filia. You'll see. Everything's going to be just fine."

After a little while, Filia stopped crying and Aerith released her from her embrace. "Thank you, Aerith…" she sniffed. "Sorry. I just…"

"It's okay," the woman smiled. "I'll go and get you some blankets."

"Thanks. I'll just go back downstairs, I need some water."

The two left the room and separated in the hall. Filia went downstairs and found Cloud talking to Mrs. Gainsborough, so she stopped halfway down.

"I think it would be best, Mister Cloud, if you left early tomorrow morning," the woman said. "Aerith has been very lonely since…for a while now. I just don't want to see her heart broken a second time."

Cloud seemed to hesitate a moment, but soon sighed. "Right. I shouldn't stay here anyway, I have a…job I have to take care of."

"Thank you…"

Filia decided that was the moment to continue down the stairs and startled Cloud and Mrs. Gainsborough. "Cloud, I…" she paused, gathering her thoughts. "I'd like to go with you. I have something I need to do, too, if that's alright."

The spiky blond-haired young man seemed trapped somehow and he debated on whether or not to take her with him. "Well, I dunno, Fil…"

"I already know about Avalanche, so don't worry about secrecy," the young woman said, making Cloud go rigid.

"A-Are you a…member?" He asked warily.

Filia shrugged. "Sort of, but not exactly."

Cloud sighed heavily, though he seemed slightly relieved at not having to tread lightly anymore. "All right, all right. But be up bright and early tomorrow, or I'm leaving without you."

"Thanks, Cloud."

- - -

_It's moving…_

_It has begun turning._

_It will all end soon…_

…_once you do._

Filia snapped awake and found herself staring up at a pink ceiling. She slowly looked over at the sleeping young woman in the bed beside her and sighed at the gentle face of Aerith Gainsborough.

She looked back up at the ceiling and desperately wanted to fall back asleep and forget that she was nowhere near her real home or family. Heck, she wasn't even anywhere her own _planet_. But instead of letting herself be carried away by sleep's oblivion she sat up, folded the blankets and set them in the corner of the room, and grabbed her shoes and purse as she carefully stepped out of the room.

Filia quietly closed the door and looked up just as Cloud finished carefully closing his own door and looked up as well. The two waved silently to each other and carefully walked down the stairs to the front door. Filia took the time to pull on her boots and she silently left the comforting house with Cloud.

It was different outside at night, Filia realized. Not so much the lighting—it was always dark under the Plate—but the aura of the place. As they walked along, Cloud leading the way, Filia took in the scents and sounds of nighttime Midgar. The air seemed cleaner at night, no worse than the smog of San Diego. Perhaps it was because most people were asleep and so they weren't using any polluting machines, or perhaps it was simply because there were fewer people walking around and kicking up dust, but Filia took a deep breath and sighed in relief.

This might not be so bad after all. She knew what to do, what to avoid, who to fight…if she found a way home at the end of it all, then she wouldn't be any worse for wear, would she? And what better way to find a way back than to follow the game's main plotline?

"You okay, Fil?" Cloud inquired from his place a couple steps ahead.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've just been thinking a lot, and I think I made the right decision coming with you." Her smile wavered slightly. "I mean, it's not like there's anywhere else I could go…"

Filia and Cloud turned a corner as the blond began to reply, but the ex-SOLDIER nearly jumped out of his skin when he found Aerith standing in the entranceway to Sector 7, smiling like the sun. The dark-haired girl slapped herself in the head for having forgotten Aerith's strange appearance from all of her time playing FF7. She really should have restarted her game more recently…

"You guys left without me," Aerith smiled. "That was more than a little mean, don't you think?"

"Uh…uh, well…" Cloud stood at a complete loss for words.

"Oh, well," the flower girl shrugged and turned a full 180 degrees so that her back was to them. "You're lucky I'm not the type of person who holds a grudge."

Filia sighed, but was actually happy to see the older woman again.

"Uh, hi…Aerith," Cloud finally managed to say. "Sorry we left so early, but…I really had to get back to Sector 7, back with Tifa and Barrett."

Aerith started. "Oh. Is Tifa…your girlfriend?"

Filia prayed that Cloud would say no, for fear all her shounen-ai fantasies would be shattered.

Cloud jumped and shook his head and waved his hands. "No! No _WAY_!" He said. "It's nothing like that!"

The flower girl laughed. "No need to get defensive."

Filia sighed with relief, content that her images of Cloud and Sephiroth's love would not fall prey to the terrors of Miss Lockheart.

The three walked into Sector 7 and came to a run down playground. Filia took this opportunity to relax and she went and sat down on a swing, leaving Cloud and Aerith to sit on the slide.

The girl wondered what Cloud and Aerith were going to talk about, considering they had already been through the allusion to Zack and mention of Cloud's glowing eyes, but didn't really care. They could talk about whatever the heck they wanted, so long as it didn't interfere with the proper story any more than her arrival already had.

Which, of course, meant that she probably should have been paying better attention to what they were saying. Premature mention of Sephiroth or Zack could throw everything into complete pandemonium.

She turned around to see what the two of them were doing, but wasn't even able to open her mouth to speak before the doors of Sector 7 boomed opened and Cloud jumped up. Filia and Aerith slowly rose to their feet as a carriage came out and then turned to leave, heading down the road on their right to the Wall Market.

As it turned, they all caught sight of a young woman in a blue dress with dark brown hair sitting in the back. Filia stifled a groan, Aerith had no clue what was going on, and Cloud's eyes widened considerably.

The young man started. "Tifa?!"


	3. Felis and Shinra HQ

Thanks to everyone who reviewd and anyone who read the last two chapters. It makes me all happy.

- - -

**Fantasy**

**Chapter Three: Felis and Shinra HQ**

The elevator opened and the two guards pushed their captive inside with the barrels of their guns stuck in her back. "I can walk on my own, thanks!" Felis Haww said, correcting her stance so she stood up straight.

Since her hands were bound behind her back, she had to shake her head and blow out of the corner of her mouth to get her long hair out of her face. As the elevator went up, she again went over what had happened since she had woken up.

Felis had opened her eyes to find herself in a very bland room with metal walls and a tiled floor—also some sort of metal—with what looked like bookshelves on either side. Standing up and taking a closer look, she found that the shelves actually held computers. Incredibly confused and concerned about where she was and how she came to be there, Felis had made the foolish mistake of stepping outside and asking someone where she was.

For some reason, that person had then pulled an alarm and called security on her. After a long, lung-bursting run, Felis tripped and scraped her hands on the floor, allowing the guards enough time to take her backpack and put her in handcuffs.

This brought her back to the present; where she stood in the elevator and it took her and the two guards up to a higher floor. Felis realized belatedly that the elevator was glass and she looked out the window to find herself gaping down at a vast city of metal and lights all around. As she watched, a technical grey helicopter passed the side of the building.

Amazed, but even more confused, Felis turned to one of the guards. "Ne, where are we?"

"Don't play innocent with me!" the man barked in reply. Which, obviously, wasn't much of a reply at all.

Felis narrowed her dark brown eyes into a steely glare that made the guard shift his weight uneasily. "If I was playing innocent, sir, I would not sound so mature," she said flatly, knowing her own acts of innocence. "I just want to know where we are. Is that so hard to tell me, or are you too dense to understand when someone is lost?"

"It would take an incredibly stupid person not to know when they were _here_," he shot back hotly.

"Okay. I'm incredibly stupid," Felis replied. "Now tell me where I am."

Before the first guard and Felis could get into another snapping contest, the second guard intervened. "This is Shinra Headquarters, in Midgar," he said quickly, making his friend step down.

Felis' eyes widened. "Midgar…?" Her eyes shot back outside and she did indeed recognize her surroundings of being from the game she and her older sister were so fond of.

_Amazing!_ She thought. _Bad place to be, but still amazing!_

The young woman wondered for a time whether or not she was dreaming, but found she couldn't possibly be asleep. After all, she had hurt herself earlier when they had chased her, and even _she_ couldn't come up with something this incredible. Unlike Filia who had them constantly, Felis never had video game dreams, so this couldn't be a dream.

The elevator let out a too-chipper _ding_ and the doors opened. The guards grabbed Felis away from the window and directed her down the hall.

"So…am I gonna be interrogated or something now?" She asked the second guard, as he seemed to be more polite than the other one.

He nodded. "You seem smart enough, so I'll tell you now, Mister Tseng is no pushover."

"Yeah!" The other guard said. "So don't try anything stupid!"

Felis jerked and looked over her shoulders, from one guard to the other. "Mister…**_Tseng_**?" She gaped. _Could it… No! No, it couldn't be him! But…this _is_ Midgar. Supposedly. Maybe… Oh! I hope not!_

They came to a room at the end of the hall; when the doors opened, the ruder guard pushed Felis into it. She stumbled, but luckily caught herself, sending a glare back at the guards before looking at the room she had been forced into.

The room had beautiful red carpet, thick and lush as velvet, with two couches of the same color and a glass-topped coffee table between them. A metal desk sat at the end of the room, placed just in front of a large window that gazed out at the earthbound stars of Midgar. Standing beside the desk was a tall man with straight black hair the reached past his shoulders; he wore a black-blue suit, a matching tie and a white button-up shirt.

This man was Tseng, leader of the Turks.

"How many was it?" He asked into the communicator on the desk as he wrote something down on a small notepad.

"_There were three, if you were to include the Ancient girl," _the person on the other end replied. _"But see what you can dig up on this blonde guy, would ya? He had a SOLDIER belt and glowing eyes, so there should be a chance he's in the records."_

"Will do," Tseng said as he finished writing in the pad. "Be sure to report to the infirmary when you get back," he smirked. "Wouldn't want that bite getting infected."

The voice on the line groaned. _"Will do,"_ he echoed reluctantly. _"Over and out."_

Tseng turned the communicator off and looked to the two guards, then to the young girl they had brought in. Blinking, he returned his eyes to the guards. "_This_ is the intruder?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, sir," the guards replied. Filia noticed that they suddenly didn't seem so ready to brag.

The Turk set his notepad down on the desk and walked over to the girl, carefully taking in her appearance. She wasn't very tall, but she also wasn't dirty, which didn't make sense if she came from below the plate. Her pants were light blue and she wore a grey sweater that went down to her knees, covered by a dark green coat—the sleeves of which were obviously too big, as she had to fold them up in order just for her hands to barely peek out of them. The girl's dark hair was also clean, although several strands of it were coming loose from her ponytail. The only thing Tseng found the slightest bit dirty about the girl was the little bit of mud on the toes of her dark brown boots.

The Turk leader tried to find some reason behind this but couldn't. Tseng stopped when he found the girl shrinking away from him, her dark brown eyes wide. "What is it?" He asked.

Felis blinked as she snapped back to reality—or pseudo-reality at this point—and chuckled weakly. "You're…tall," she murmured as she cast her eyes down to the floor. He was Wutaian, that much was obvious from the game, so Felis had always assumed he was fairly short, like a Japanese or Chinese person. She reminded herself silently that he wasn't from Japan or China, but Wutai. Wutai, while it held similarities in culture to both these Terran places, was neither. And obviously Yuffie's shortness was a fluke.

Tseng raised a fine black eyebrow and turned his equally dark eyes from the girl to the guards, who simply shrugged in obvious bewilderment. Sighing in exasperation at the idiots Shinra was hiring these days, he looked back at the girl. "Your name?"

She glanced back up, but quickly cast her eyes to her feet once more. It was almost like she was…shy. Not afraid, but shy. That made no sense. "Felis," she replied. "Felis Haww."

"Alright, Felis," he nodded and walked back to one of the couches. "Have a seat."

Felis responded with a nod of her own and followed the Turk leader. He paused for a moment when they reached the couch, and turned around to face her once more. "Hold still," he commanded, leaning close. He pressed his index finger to the space between the cuffs behind her back, leaning over her so closely that his hair brushed her face. Felis was surprised when she felt the cuffs loosen, then clatter to the floor. Of course, if she did something crazy and attacked him—because it _would_ be crazy to attack any Turk, much less the leader—he could take care of himself, so she supposed the cuffs were unnecessary. She wondered what that said about the idiot guards.

He sat on the couch on the right, so she took the one on the left, sitting straight across from him as he sat down and crossed his legs.

Tseng watched her rub her mildly abraded wrists and made a mental note to get the auto-adjustment sensors in her cuffs checked. They were supposed to hold a prisoner's hands in place, not cut off the circulation. "So, Miss… How do you spell you last name?"

"H-A-W-W. Haww," Felis replied, spelling it out and pronouncing it.

"Of course," the ebony-haired man nodded, brushing some loose hair behind his ear. "Perhaps you could explain to me how you managed to slip past our security and make it into one of our libraries?"

Felis snapped to attention for an instant, eyes wide, but then cast her eyes down to the reflections on the glass surface of the table. "I…don't know," she said quietly.

Tseng paused for a moment, but the girl said nothing more. She almost seemed to be moping. What kind of prisoner was shy around a Turk and moped during interrogation? He couldn't help but wonder. "All right," he said at last. "What were you doing in there?"

"I don't know," Felis repeated.

Tseng sighed. "Miss Haww, are you a member of the terrorist group that has been attacking the Mako Reactors as of late?"

At this, Felis looked up and met his eyes. "Avalanche?" she queried, raising both eyebrows. She let out a short chuckle and shook her head hurriedly, a smile brightening her features and making it appear like she thought the idea was absurd. "No, no way."

The Turk raised an eyebrow. "And yet, you know the name of this terrorist group?"

Felis went rigid when he pointed that out. She couldn't possibly tell him the truth about how she knew it, he would most definitely think she was crazy. So, she improvised. "Well, uh…the name _is_ spraypainted all over the place down below," she said, pointing downward. "It's pretty hard _not_ to know it really."

"Then, you are from below the plate?"

"Well," Felis chuckled nervously. "Kinda…sorta? But not…really, no."

Tseng folded his arms across his chest with a sigh. "Miss Haww, I need you to be completely truthful and very clear when answering these questions."

"Can I ask…_you_ something?" Felis inquired slowly.

Tseng looked directly at her, but this time she didn't look away. "Alright…"

"What's happened so far?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I…don't understand what you're asking," he said. "Be more specific."

"How long has it been since Reactor number 8 was blown?" She elaborated, hoping she wasn't giving anything away. If they found out that Avalanche was going to destroy the Reactor before they did it, they might very well kill them all before Sephiroth could even come into play.

The Turk leader blinked. "It blew just yesterday," he replied. Felis stifled a sigh of relief. "And Reactor 5 blew earlier today. Why?"

Felis looked down as she pondered on his answer. _So…I'm still near the beginning of the game, _she thought. _But how…?_

Just then, catching the girl's attention, the doors opened and in stormed a darkly handsome man. He was probably in his late forties or early fifties, though he held his age well, and was clad in button up shirt, black slacks, and a lab coat. His shiny black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and a pair of round-framed glasses covered his black eyes. "Tseng!" he barked upon entering.

Tseng slumped, and Felis was barely able to catch him whisper, "Oh god, not _this_ again…!"

The man stormed over to the couch the Turk leader sat on and slammed his hands down on the crimson armrest. "Tseng, I am to understand that you were incapable of capturing the Ancient? **_Again?_**" He demanded. "You do realize that my research is moot unless I have a specimen, don't you? I'm certain a man of your mentality is able to comprehend even that very simple, undeniable fact, aren't you, Tseng?"

"My dear, dear Doctor Hojo," Tseng rubbed between his eyes as he struggled to keep his voice down and his tone level. "We all understand the importance of your research. However, we can't very well do anything about the Ancient if you continue to storm in and complain at times like this. I have a job to do—"

"Yes, to bring me the Ancient!"

Tseng ground his teeth. "—and you continue to interrupt it."

As the two men continued to bicker—in a manner so civilized it seemed almost unreal—about the unattained Ancient, Felis sat frozen in her seat as she stared in shock at the man in the lab coat. He waved his hands about, gesturing wildly and spouting some nonsense about his life's work, but Felis couldn't understand a word.

_Hojo_, she thought blankly.

This was the man who sent Sephiroth to Nibelheim for his descent into madness; he who changed Vincent's body so that he would forever consider himself a monster; he who allowed his own wife to die so that he research would be furthered. He who now stood but a few feet from her.

Felis had always hated Hojo for what he had done, there was no denying that. But he had always been a character in some game, nothing more than a mass of pixels and sketchy super-deformation. No, to Felis he always been a person, a person she hated—but a person who would always be hated from the other side of the glass on a TV screen. Somehow, seeing him in the flesh made that hatred and anger towards him grow to immense proportions.

The young woman felt her heart pound against her ribcage and she dug her nails into knees, gritting her teeth. "_Hojo_…!" The doctor and the Turk turned their attention from each other to the young girl, who by now was shaking terribly.

"And you are…?" Hojo inquired, raising one eyebrow and straightening his silver-rimmed glasses.

Felis didn't even think about answering him. "You can stand there, complaining about your lack of an Ancient until your hair falls out," Felis said. "If I could have things my way, you never would have existed. For Seph's, Vincent's and everyone else's sakes, I would gladly see you dead." The young woman looked up, her eyes full of hate and anger. "But there was nothing I could ever do about that. I could never take back what you did to all of them, no matter how hard I tried or wished for it."

Hojo stared at Felis in confusion, but he also understood some of what she was saying. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Things are different, now, though," she continued. "Now you're right here, right in front of me…" She narrowed her eyes. "And I'm not going to sit here and pretend I don't care!" She leapt up, lunging for the doctor, and Tseng intercepted a moment too late. Looking back later, the Turk would wonder if his failed attempt had been intentional—he had long wanted to watch someone, anyone, pummel the lunatic into oblivion.

Felis slammed into the scientist, forcing him to the ground, and wrapped both arms around his throat. A part of her screamed that she couldn't kill him—she couldn't kill anyone, she didn't have the right—but that part was shoved back into the farthest corner of her mind as she waited for the black-haired man's skin to turn blue.

She didn't get the chance to see, for Tseng took hold of one of her arms and expertly pulled it free of the doctor's neck, twisting it behind her back so far she knew it would break any moment and hoisting her to her feet. "As interesting as that was," he breathed into her ear, "I'm afraid I can't stand idly by and let you kill the head of Shinra's scientific research division."

Tseng motioned for the guards to take her down to the brig and they complied, first retrieving the semi-defective cuffs and placing them on her wrists once more before leading her towards the door. As she stood up and headed out of the room, Felis glared long and hard at Hojo, as if trying to make him fall dead right where he stood.

The guards and Felis left the room and Tseng turned to face Hojo, who was stumbling to his feet, one pale hand against his neck, breath heaving. "I will let you know the moment the Ancient is in our possession, Doctor," he said, not bothering to help the other man stand. "But until that time—"

"Tseng, who was that girl?" Hojo inquired, pointing after Felis with his free hand after he had risen up off the ground.

The Turk leader hesitated. "Just an intruder on the compound," he replied slowly as he stepped away and pretended to be busy with a small file on the desk. Hojo stood deep in thought for a long moment, silent at last. "No one of consequence…" the Turk assured him.

Hojo stared at the closed doors for a long while, then a cold smile crossed his lips. "And since she is 'no one of consequence,' you won't have need of her, correct?"

Tseng knew what was coming, but nonetheless tried to ignore the horrors he knew awaited that young girl. "No…" he replied, leaning his hands down on the desk. "No, I won't."

"Good!" The doctor clapped. "Perhaps I won't be without something to keep me occupied after all. Thank you, Tseng." And, with a small nod, Hojo left the room.

The Turk leader straightened after a moment and glared after Hojo, cursing him for what he had done in the past, and what he was about to do. He muttered several curses in the very capable Wutaian tongue, but was cut off when the communicator on the desk hummed.

Tseng broke off and pushed the blinking button. "Tseng here."

"_Mister Tseng," _a woman said. _"I was just calling to inform you that Master Rufus' helicopter will be landing shortly."_

"Of course, thank you." The Turk turned the machine off and headed towards the door, stopping when he noticed a black backpack sitting on the floor by the exit. He started to reach for it, but decided against it just before his fingers brushed the thick black fabric. He left it by the door and left the room to welcome Rufus Shinra back to Midgar.

- - -

Felis sat in the corner of her cell, hugging her knees to her chest. She was very scared, and wanted nothing more than for someone to hold her and tell her everything was okay, but she knew that would not happen. She was alone in this strange, far away place called Midgar. No mother, no sister and no little brother.

Finally accepting this to be true, Felis knew that she had to escape somehow. If she waited long enough, she might run into Cloud and the others, and they might be able to help her, but she remembered a whole lot of stuff had to happen before they were captured while rescuing Aerith. Which meant she would have to break out on her own.

Felis sighed, knowing full well that she had no chance of doing that.

Just then, she heard the guard outside talking to someone and Felis stood up when she heard him typing in the code to open her cell door. When it opened, she was horrified and enraged to find Doctor Hojo standing in the entranceway, smiling.

Hojo stepped in and Felis backed away.

This made his smile broaden. "And you were so full of righteous fury before, too bad." He stepped closer until Felis felt her legs hit the bed and she froze. "I wonder what it is about you…" he muttered, reaching up and tilting her head back to look at her face. "You just spark a certain…interest."

Felis snapped her head away and slapped his hand.

"Ah! There it is!" He grinned and reached into the pocket of his coat. "As much as I admire that fire in your eyes, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to douse it before I can do anything." Hojo withdrew a small medicine bottle from his lab coat and opened it, dropping two round, white pills into his other hand.

Felis tried to pull back further as he returned the bottle to his pocket and turned back to her. "Keep away from me!"

Hojo grabbed the young woman by her throat, his grip much stronger than she would have thought such a spindly man was capable of, and held her as he stuck one of the pills down her throat. Felis pulled away with a gasp and felt the pill fall down her throat uncomfortably as she held her neck, coughing.

"It's just a small sedative," he said, kneeling down beside her. "Now unless you want me to grab your hair and shove this one down your throat too, I suggest you take it calmly."

Felis hacked and looked back up at the doctor. "Sicko…!" she spat. Hojo sighed, shaking his head. He easily shoved the second pill into her mouth and Felis covered her mouth as she leaned over.

"I'll send some guards to escort you in an hour; by then, you'll be mostly incapacitated." With that, Hojo left.

Felis waited until she heard the door close and the spat the pill out on the floor before sitting up. She quickly pulled her sleeve over her hand and stuck two fingers in her mouth to try and get rid of the taste of Hojo's fingers in her mouth. She considered trying to gag herself to get out the other pill, but wasn't sure if she could.

After taking on the flavor of green flannel, Felis sat back against the wall and struggled to breathe. She had been through enough things in her life, but having a guy stick his fingers in her mouth to make her swallow something had to be filed under 'UNDENIABLY NASTY.'

Even so, she had already swallowed one sedative, so there was no doubt she would eventually pass out. But Hojo had tried to give her two, so maybe, just maybe the one pill alone wouldn't knock her out too badly.

But the thought of passing out at all and waking up like a frog in a biology lab made Felis shudder. She pulled her legs against her chest and leaned her head against her knees as she tried to cry.

"What am I gonna do…?!"

- - -

Tseng waited on the roof as the helicopter landed. As the propeller slowly died down, the side door opened and out stepped a young man around twenty-three years old. He was tall and had fiery-blond hair and deep blue eyes; he wore a black turtleneck covered by a white trenchcoat covered by a white, grey-lined business coat and matching pants.

Rufus Shinra had arrived in Midgar.

Tseng bent over as he walked over to greet the future-president of Shinra Inc. "Welcome home, Mister Rufus!" He shouted to be heard over the helicopter.

"Hey, Tseng!" Rufus grinned as he shielded his face from the force of the propeller. "Things still boring here?"

Tseng grabbed Rufus' bags and they walked away from the noisy contraption. "Far from it actually," he replied as he opened the glass door, allowing Rufus to step inside before he followed. "A group of terrorist rebels have been attacking the Mako Reactors for the past few days, numbers 8 and 5 are out along with 1."

Rufus sighed as they walked down the hall and stepped into the elevator. "Home sweet home, huh?"

The elevator took them down a few floors and when the doors opened again, they made their way down the hall to Rufus' office. Tseng set the young Shinra's luggage on the other side of the door, opposite of Felis' forgotten bag and watched as his charge collapsed on one of the red couches, turning his face up to the ceiling.

Rufus rubbed his face and groaned. "Gaea! I'm exhausted!"

"Tough trip?" Tseng asked, sitting on the opposite couch.

"Highwind is still demanding that Shinra 'restart the Space Project and do something with that damn rocket before it rots to useless scraps of metal,' " Rufus said. "I wanna shoot that guy in the head a few times, maybe then my headache will go away."

"I personally thought that rocket was _always_ a useless scrap of metal," Tseng said, making Rufus chuckle.

The young Shinra started to sit up, but his head pounded again and he fell back down. Holding his head he turned to Tseng with a reassuring look. "So, other than the attacks, anything interesting happen while I was away?"

Tseng thought a moment. "Actually—"

The Turk leader was cut off suddenly when the doors opened and Reno literally fell into the room. "Keep away from me, you sadist!"

Reno scrambled to his feet, then to the other end of the room as a woman with short, sunshine-blonde hair and dark brown eyes stepped in followed by a tall, burly, bald man with sunglasses; they both wore the same suit as Reno and Tseng.

"Oh, don't be such an ass, Reno!" Elena said. She froze at the sight of Rufus on the couch and straightened. "M-M-Master Rufus! I-I-I-I'm sorry, sir! I didn't mean to—"

"It's all right, Elena," Tseng smiled.

"Your newest Turk, Tseng?" Rufus asked.

"Turk-in-training, actually," replied Tseng. "I've been having her work with Reno and Rude for the time being. Learning the ropes."

Reno then noticed the future president and walked over to the couch with a grin. "Hey, Rufus! How's it goin'?"

Rufus groaned and draped his arm over his eyes. "Not so loud! My head is killing me…!"

"Sorry," Reno whispered and leaned his arms on the head of the couch. "Let me guess, you're latest trip was to Rocket Town?"

"Correct. Fifty points to Reno," Rufus said sarcastically, removing his arm from his eyes and smiling. Anything he was about to say died before it could be said when he caught sight of Reno's bandaged left hand. "What the hell happened to you?"

The scarlet-haired Turk started and put his hand into his pocket with a fake cough. "I was, uh…bitten by a stray dog," he replied.

Elena scoffed and rolled her eyes, but did not say anything.

Rufus, not in the mood to fight the truth out of his friend, looked back at Tseng. "What really happened?"

"Someone bit him down below the plate," the leader replied, receiving an obscene gesture from Reno. "It was while he was after the Ancient."

"Below the plate?" Rufus looked back at the redhead. "It's about the same as a stray dog, then. Did you get tested for rabies?"

"Oh, ha, ha," Reno retorted. "Very funny, Rufus. But, man! That chick was _funky_!"

Rufus sat up with a slight interest. "A woman bit you?"

"I think it was a woman…" Reno looked up to meet slightly nauseated looks from his employer and comrades. "Not like that!" He shouted.

"Then elaborate, please," Tseng said, folding his arms and leaning back with a smirk. "I never got to hear the whole story."

Reno honestly wasn't in the mood, but complied to the order given by his superior. "Well, there was this chick with the Ancient," he said. "But she didn't really look like a chick. I mean, she was built like…like…me." He had considered saying 'Elena,' but decided he liked his face where it was. "She was pretty flat, but when I grabbed her, I felt…uh…"

Elena raised an eyebrow. "You grabbed her, did you? Where, if you don't mind my asking?"

The scarlet-haired Turk chuckled nervously. "Well…I, myself, don't usually mind talking about that part of the female body, but…_you_ might hold some offense to it…"

"So you groped this girl, thinking she was a guy?" Rufus asked. "That's just twisted, Reno."

"I didn't mean to grope her!"

"But you still groped her," Rude said.

"Would you guys stop saying 'grope'?!" Elena exclaimed. "It's making me uncomfortable—me being the only woman in this room!" Everyone else chuckled and the woman fell silent, looking down at the red carpet, undeniably flustered.

It was then that Reno looked at the bags by the door and caught sight of one black bag sitting by itself on the left side of the exit. "Hey, Rufus, that bag yours?"

"What bag?"

Reno walked over to the door and picked up the backpack, slightly surprised at how heavy it was. It looked small, but Reno was sure it weighed a ton. Maybe two. "Damn, man! I thought you liked to travel light!"

Rufus looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "That's _not_ my bag."

"Oh!" Tseng started.

"It's _yours_?!" Reno marveled as he set the bag down on the couch, where it made a significant dent in the red upholstery. "I didn't know you traveled at all! Much less with something so heavy."

"Oh, well, it's not mine exactly, it's…"

Everyone looked at the Turk leader, expectantly.

"Company, Tseng?" Reno grinned. "Didn't know you had that, either. Who is she? A body builder?"

"It's…it belongs to an intruder security caught earlier today," he explained.

"Someone got on the compound?!" Elena gaped, as did almost everyone else. "How did they get past the main security?"

"She says she doesn't know," Tseng shrugged.

"Ah-ha… So it does belong to a girl." Reno's grin fell away as he blinked and looked at the bag. "She actually carries this thing?!"

Tseng shrugged again. "The guards brought it in with her and forgot about it, I guess."

Elena attempted to bring to light the gravity of this situation. "But someone on the compound—"

"Listen." Everyone turned their attention to Rufus. "I really do find this all very interesting: girls that look like men, girls that lift weights, but I am really, very tired. And I would appreciate it if you could discuss these things elsewhere."

The Turks all jumped up and exited the room hurriedly, only Elena pausing to bow in the doorway, leaving Rufus Shinra to try to sleep.

Rufus fell back down on his back, his head just barely missing a fatal collision with the intruder's bag. He looked up at it, but decided to dwell on its hidden weight later, after some rest.


End file.
